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Amsterdam Food Diary

AMSTERDAM FOOD DIARY

As many of you know, I recently spent a week in Amsterdam. Before I left for my trip I made about 50 different lists with notes of all of the vegan, mostly vegan, or omni with vegan options in Amsterdam. Living in NYC, I am used to having lots of vegan options in restaurants, but I was especially excited with how many there were in Amsterdam. I am treating this blog post as more of a ‘food diary’ with notes, suggestions, comments, etc. on all of the food I ate and some of the activities that we did! Also, I know there are quite a few more places I didn’t make it to while I was there, but that just means I will have to go back soon!

Day 1: Our flight arrived at 7:30 AM & had to wait an additional hour or so for my parents flight to get in and so the hunt for vegan options at Schiphol began. Much to my dismay (maybe I wasn’t looking in the right area?) I couldn’t find a single vegan option. Even the bagels at Starbucks came ‘pre-cream cheesed’… YUCK. Doing a handy yelp search, I discovered there was a bagel place in the building we were staying in and thank goodness, they had vegan options.

Breakfast:Bagel & Beans– Tomato bagel with tomato, lettuce, and avocado and a latte with soy milk. Now being from NY, the bagels here are not good, but it was fine for what it was.
Bagel & Beans- (various locations in Amsterdam)

Lunch (part 1, kind of):Vegabond– Spinach & ‘cheese’ pastry. This was delicious! It tasted just like spanakopita & I wish I had bought like 6 of them. Also, I will discuss Vegabond more in depth later in this post.
Vegabond- Leliegracht 16, 1015

Lunch (part 2, kind of):Brouwerij de Prael– 2 IPAs & fries. They had a vegetarian bitterballen on their menu here & I asked the waiter if it was vegan and he told me it was. He later came back and told me they were out of it, but I suspect it wasn’t actually vegan that’s why they were ‘out of it’ (more on bitterballen later). The fries were delicious, every place you go to has fries. I’ve never eaten so many fries in my life.
Brouwerij de Prael- Oudezijds Armsteeg 26, 1012 GP

Dinner:Meatless District– the MD Cheeseburger (spicy black bean patty) and AFC (Amsterdam Fried Cauliflower) tempura fried cauliflower with sambal dipping sauce. This place was definitely my second favorite restaurant we went to Amsterdam. I highly suggest this place. It’s super cute, they have tons of all vegan options, and the wait staff is really nice & helpful. The MD Cheeseburger was decidedly one of the best veggie burgers my boyfriend and I have ever had and I have had thousands of veggie burgers in my life. The AFC was pretty delicious too. Would recommend both dishes.
Meatless District- Bilderdijkstraat 65-67, 1053 KM

AFC ‘Amsterdam Fried Cauliflower’ at Meatless District

Day 2:
Breakfast:Bagel & Bean– Tomato bagel with hummus, arugula, and sundried tomatoes. The hummus bagel here is a much better pick than the avocado bagel. I also want to point out. I went here almost every morning for breakfast. The food is only okay. I wouldn’t really recommend it. It was just the most convenient place to get breakfast where we were staying.

Lunch:Foodhallen– okay I seriously could have ordered like 50 things from here. There are quite a few vegan options & it’s perfect for large groups or if you are eating with vegans and omnis as it has options for everyone. I got a Bahn Mi sandwich with the ‘total crush tofu’ from VietView. This sandwich is vegan if you just omit the mayo! It was delicious. We also ordered some fried shishito peppers, our favorite.
Foodhallen- Bellamyplein 51, 1053 AT

Total Crush Tofu Bahn Mi from VietView

Dinner(ish): Vegan meats & cheeses from Vegabond. Vegabond is the cutest little all vegan grocery store. They had tons of different vegan cheeses & meats to choose from that we don’t have in the US, so of course I had to completely over buy because I wanted to try everything. I got salami (Wheaty)*, a ‘No-Muh’ Herb cheese(Vegusto)*, a cheddar cheese(Wilmersburger)* and some soy jerky(Vantastic Foods)*. When we got home later I made a cute little charcuterie plate for insta pics, of course. The herb cheese was def my favorite, it didn’t taste like anything I have had before. The cheddar cheese tasted identical to chao original cheese and the salami was okay, it needed more flavoring. The soy jerk was weird, def do not recommend. I do however, recommend checking out Vegabond if you are ever in Amsterdam. They also sell ready to eat foods, like the spinach & cheese pastry I had the day before.
Vegabond- address above
*I believe these were all of the brands.

All vegan ‘charcuterie’ plate with items form Vegabond

Day 3: So this was the day I was supposed to go to Cologne, but unfortunately not sleeping very well the previous couple of nights cause me to not be able to go. Because of this I ended up getting a really late start to the day. My first meal of the day was around noon, so I will call it ‘lunch(ish).’

Lunch(ish, part 1):EXKI– Antelias(quinoa tabbouleh). EXKI has a bunch of pre-made vegan, vegetarian, and omni options. It is located at Amsterdam Centraal and most closely resembles a ‘Pret’ to me. I was not a fan, I generally hate pre-made, pre-packaged food, and this stuff was just bland & boring.
EXKI- De Ruijterkade 36c, 1012 AA

Lunch(ish, part 2): After lunch(ish) part 1 my boyfriend & I rode one of the trams to the end of the line to check the Molen van Sloten Windmill. While we were out there we stopped at tiny roadside place and got… fries! You can pretty much guarantee that anywhere you go in Amsterdam will have fries and at least 10 dipping sauce options. This time we opted for the sweet curry, which to my knowledge we don’t have in the states. Much to my surprise, I LOVED this dipping sauce, think sweet chili sauce meets curry. I have a recipe in my head to recreate it one of these days so be on the lookout soon!

Lunch(ish, part 3):
Wow, I’ve eaten a lot today, but not too much that I couldn’t make a stop at Vegan Junk Food Bar on our way back from Nieuw Sloten. Vegan Junk Food Bar is exactly what it sounds like, a menu full of delicious vegan junk food. We decided to try the ‘Original VJFB Burger’ which was a ‘plant based beef’ burger with vegan cheddar, lettuce, tomato, red, spring, and fried onion mix, pickles, jalapenos, and VJFB sauce and we got an order of Amsterdam Bitterballen with mustard on the side. The burger was tasty, the patty reminded me of a beyond beast burger and the toppings were all pretty standard. I don’t believe they have Daiya in Europe, but the cheddar cheese used here definitely tasted like Daiya to me. Now on to the Bitterballen, I had been wanting to try a veganized bitterballen since I had arrived in Amsterdam. Seriously, everywhere you went they had bitterballen on the menu & I was curious to see what it was all about, since I had never heard of it before. According to google, traditional Amsterdam bitterballen is a deep fried ball consisting of ground meat & a roux made from beef broth, butter, flour, parsley, salt & pepper. The vegan version was basically just deep fried gravy with a mustard dipping sauce. I was not a fan, but I’m glad I tried it. Overall I thought this place was good & would recommend for a vegan junk food fix.
Vegan Junk Food Bar- Staringplein 22, 1054 VL

‘Original VJFB Burger’ at Vegan Junk Food Bar

Amsterdam Bitterballen from Vegan Junk Food Bar

Dinner:Hummus Bistro d & a– Falafel Hummus, D & A Salad, and Roasted Eggplant. After all the junk I had been eating, we decided it was time for some ‘vegetables’ (I use the word vegetables loosely here). This place had gotten great reviews on yelp & it was within walking distance of our air bnb so we figured we would give it a shot. This place was a big disappointment, the hummus was good, but it ended there. The falafel was dry, the salad had no flavor & the roasted eggplant was just weird. One thing I noticed while in Amsterdam was that everywhere we went they love to load everything up with fresh mint & this place was no exception. I am not a fan of fresh mint so maybe that added to my dislike of this place, but I would not recommend.
Hummus Bistro d & a- Westerstraat 136, 1015 MP

Activities:
Molen van Sloten Windmill- kind of a long ride for what it was, but I’m glad I got to see a windmill
Vondelpark- nice park to hang

Day 4: We woke up to a beautiful morning in Amsterdam & decided to check out an all vegan brunch place!

Brunch:DopHert– Vegan Croissant with Butter & Jam, Carrot Lox Bagel, Veggie Burger with Fries. This was my favorite restaurant we went to while in Amsterdam. I wish I could have gone back a second time, but they are closed on Monday & Tuesday! This place is super cute with outdoor seating, full vegan menu of delicious options, and very nice and helpful wait staff. The vegan croissant was amazing, light, fluffy, buttery, all the qualities you need in croissant and the accompaniments of butter and jam were delicious as well. The carrot lox bagel was the best I have ever had and I have had A LOT of carrot lox in my life. The texture & taste of the ‘lox’ were absolutely perfect & the mustard dill sauce was a perfect addition. I did not try the veggie burger, but my boyfriend said it was very good. I would DEF recommend this place. It’s a bit out of the way (at least for us), but it was WELL WORTH the visit.
DopHert- Spaarndammerstraat 49-H, 1013 ST

Carrot Lox from DopHert

Veggie Burger from DopHert

Drinks & Sorbet:NDSM Wharf/Pllek/IJscuypje. You can take a FREE ferry to the NDSM Wharf from a couple of locations in the city, we took it from Amsterdam Centraal, but there was another ferry terminal north of there. The day we went there happened to be a food festival going on, but we were both still full from brunch & didn’t try any food, however, I did spot a few vegan options while there. Even though I was stuffed I still managed to enjoy a strawberry & mango sorbet from IJscuypje, which is right across from where the ferry drops you off. All of their sorbet flavors were vegan & the two I tried were tasty. While over here we also enjoyed some beers at Pllek, which is a really cute beach bar right on the water with tons of outdoor seating to soak up the sun. I recommend checking out NDSM Wharf on a warm day because most stuff is outside.
NDSM Wharf- Tt. Neveritaweg 61, 1033 WB

Strawberry Mango Sorbet from IJscuypje

Dinner:SLA– vegan sushi bowl. I’m not even going to go into detail of all the reasons I didn’t like this all place, because this post is turning ridiculously long, but all I can say is really expensive & zero flavor.

Day 5: Kind of a boring eating day, we didn’t go to any specifically vegan places, but we did find some non-vegan restaurants with vegan options!

Lunch:Valerius– Ratatouille on toast (NO PARMESAN). This was an OK vegan option, however, I always appreciate a non-vegan restaurant that can easily make adjustments to things to make them vegan. This dish originally came with parmesan, but if you asked for it without, it was vegan!
Valerius- Banstraat 14, 1071 JZ

Ratatouille on toast at Valerius.

Dinner:Wok to Walk– Rice noodles with shiitake mushrooms and Tokyo sauce (teriyaki) NO EGG, LOW OIL. We actually have this place in NYC and I knew I’d be able to eat vegan there, which is the main reason we went. Most of their sauces are NOT vegan, so you have to make sure the one you get is. Also, ask for no egg & if you don’t enjoy noodles swimming in oil ask for low oil. They’re very accommodating!

Activities:
Van Gogh- recommend IF you like Van Gogh and IF you don’t mind large crowds of people all fighting to see the same piece of artwork.

Day 6:
Lunch: A stall at the Albert Cuypmarket– Patates Gozleme. This was pretty good, it was basically flat bread stuffed with spiced potatoes. I don’t remember the name of the stall, but it was a Turkish food stall at the beginning of the market. There weren’t too many vegan food stalls there, but there were a few options and there are a couple of vegan restaurants over there, but I didn’t check them out.
Albert Cuypmarket- Albert Cuypstraat, 1073 BD

Patates Gozleme at Albert Cuypmarket

Dinner Part 1:Sonny’s Falafel– falafel and fries with sweet curry dipping sauce. I had been craving some good Amsterdam falafel since the second I got there and it took me until day 6 to get some! This is one of those places where they hand you the pita with the falafel and then you add all of your toppings. The falafel and fries here were tasty & fresh. If you are craving falafel, this is a good option!
Sonny’s Falafel- Eerste van der Helststraat 43, 1073

Dinner Part 2:Ristorante Pepe– Spaghetti alla Gitanos. Not a vegan restaurant, but they had a couple of vegan options, including this pasta dish, which consisted of a tomato pasta sauce with veggies, olives and capers. It was good, not the best pasta dish I have ever had, but I enjoyed it and there was something for everyone. Ristorante Pepe- Westerstraat 144, 1015